Take My Breath Away
by Erin Salvatore
Summary: AU. Caroline is sitting on the porch at her family's beach house, watching the sunset, when Klaus shows up and they share a tender moment together after she opens up about her feelings in regards to her parents' divorce. Stand-alone one shot.


**Take My Breath Away**

**by Erin Salvatore**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries. I'm just borrowing.**

_**Note: Hey, guys, I thought I'd do another Klaroline stand-alone one shot. It's an AU and the plot is this: Caroline sits on the porch of the Forbes family beach house, watching the sunset, and suddenly, Klaus joins her and they have a tender moment together.**_

_**Don't ask, just take it as written.**_

_Forbes Family Beach House..._

**T**he breeze seemed to caress her face as Caroline sat on the porch of the beach house she had rented, enjoying the stillness of the world around her. The blonde vampire hadn't been to this house since her human days, when her parents were still together, but struggling through the ruins of their crumbling marriage. It seemed weird for her to be here now, but she needed an escape from the montony of her "small town life," as Klaus had told her at the 20s Decade Dance. Shit, why was she thinking of him, and _now_, of all times? Why was it that whenever she seemed to catch a break, it all came down to him? She thought she could breathe again, but the Original hybrid had his ways.

At that moment, she felt a presence around her, a very _familiar_ presence. How the hell did he know where to find her? Closing her eyes, she said, "So, how did you find me, Klaus? This place is my personal sanctuary."

Klaus surveyed the area, smiling. "I can see why it would be. It's beautiful."

"I don't care what you think of it," said Caroline, opening her eyes again. "I came here to be alone, okay? Now, go away."

"Now, why would I leave such a peaceful place like this?" said Klaus, ascending the porch steps and joining her on the swing. "It's the perfect place to relieve one's mind." He looked toward the slowly setting sun. "I love sunsets. They're the most beautiful things in the world to paint. I must've painted over a thousand of them over the centuries."

"Yeah, I guess they _are_ sort of pretty." Caroline sighed. "Though, when I was little, they used to frighten me, because they meant the light was going out, and that darkness was coming. It got even worse when my parents divorced. The light that was once their marriage had been extinguished and their divorce brought on the darkness."

Klaus saw that she was about to cry and hugged her to him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age, love."

Caroline wrapped her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. "I thought that it was my fault, you know? I thought that I had done something wrong and they got divorced because of me. I thought that if I was a good girl, they'd get back together."

"It wasn't your fault, Caroline," said Klaus. "They fell out of love. It happens."

Caroline nodded tearfully. "I know, but at the time, that's what I thought." She sniffed and pulled out of his embrace. "God, I must sound so pathetic to you, huh? I mean, you're the most powerful being on the planet, and yet, you're wasting your time listening to my problems like a therapist."

"On the contrary, love, you don't sound pathetic at all," said Klaus. "In my experience, it helps to talk things out, difficult as it sometimes is. Granted, I was never one to talk about my problems, but with you, I make it an exception."

Caroline scoffed. Why was _that_ not surprising? The Original hybrid was willing to do just about anything when it came to her. He would move heaven and earth for her, if need be. If she didn't know any better, she'd probably call herself a vampire whisperer, or in Klaus' case, a _hybrid_ whisperer. She hated to admit it, but she kind of liked how it made her feel.

"Still, there has to be other things you could be doing right now."

"To be honest, I really have nothing better to be doing than joining you on this porch at this most beautiful place," said Klaus. "The world can wait, Caroline. The only thing that matters is what we have in front of us right now." He stood up and held out his hand. "Care to go for a walk with me? Don't worry, I won't bite."

Caroline laughed at his choice of words and stood up, taking his hand and let him lead her off the porch and down the beach. Although this wasn't exactly what she had expected to be doing when she came out here, life sort of had a funny way of changing plans on a whim. As they walked, Caroline got closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder, inhaling his scent. For some reason, his scent seemed to soothe her.

"Aren't you glad I convinced you to come for a walk with me?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she replied. "I wasn't expecting to be doing this, but I suppose it's life little ironies. You go somewhere, planning to do one thing, and then something happens to change your plans unexpectedly." She shifted her gaze toward him. "Take running into you at my family's beach house, for example."

Klaus smiled. "Am I wrong in guessing that it was a happy irony that we ran into each other here?"

"You could say that, yes," said Caroline. "And, in a way, it sort of made me feel better to talk to you about how I was feeling. It helped relieve the pressure that was building up inside me for so long. True, I've talked to my friends about it, but it never really quite helped. I guess it was because I didn't convince myself that somehow, I'd get through it."

Klaus stopped walking and pulled her closer to him, kissing her as the waves crashed around them. Caroline smiled against his lips and returned his kiss. At that moment, the world had melted away and it was just the two of them. They were so busy kissing, in fact, that they didn't know that the sun had completely set and that night was closing in around them.

**~ END**

_**Note: Here you are, lovelies, a great ficlet starring Klaroline. As I said in the first note, it's a stand-alone one shot. Enjoy and keep the Klaroline faith!**_


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